Beast
Beast
A recently widowed man and his two teenage daughters travel to a game reserve in South Africa. However, their journey of healing soon turns into a fight for survival when a bloodthirsty lion starts to stalk them.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 6, 2025
A decent popcorn thriller that while, beat by beat, is almost entirely predictable, does offer some heightened moments of tension and a few legitimate thrills. Idris Elba again proves to be a solid leading man and Beast is largely watchable because of it. Unfortunately, my connection with each of the characters was severely limited as a result of some really stupid character decisions—a cinema sin that nearly always takes me completely out of a movie. In addition, avoiding spoilers, I’ll just say that I hated the ending. So while not a ringing endorsement, at just 90 minutes Beast is a pretty good time at the theater that at the very least doesn’t overstay it’s welcome, and actually does deliver on some of it’s tension filled set pieces.
Update: rewatched with the whole family in the theater. Paid more attention to the tracking shots, camera movement and overall cinematography. Really great stuff. Still cannot stand the decision-making in this. It was good to watch with my kids, though, so I can say “When I tell you to stay in the car, you stay in the f*@#ing car!” It’s a good lesson.